My Only Friend, the End

My Only Friend, the End By Steven Owad
Publication date: December 2, 2024
Buy Link: Amazon
Genres: Adult, Literary Fiction, Post-Apocalyptic
Summary:

Everyone in town has dropped dead. Maybe everyone everywhere has. Surviving the flash extinction was easy. The hard part—living alone—starts now.

—

EXCERPT:

I spent the next two days nursing a chill fever and watching the fires engulf pockets of the city—more slowly than you might expect, with prodigious walls of steam wherever fire met the Missouri floodwaters. Despite the vivid show, there was something anticlimactic about the way the town died so gradually after everyone in it had died so fast.

The amoxicillin and painkillers aided the convalescence, but they did nothing for my mental health. Whether awake or asleep, I obsessed over my wife and son. I also immersed myself in a sea of questions that had no answers, questions that begat other questions, borne of illness of the body and mind. Some of the more obvious ones:

The End of Never (Chronicles of Ithical, #1)

The End of Never (Chronicles of Ithical, #1) By Tamara Grantham
Publication date: March 7, 2023
Buy Link: Amazon
Genres: Adult, Post-Apocalyptic, Science Fiction
Summary:

The riveting sequel to Rone-award winning The 7^th Lie.

When her worst fears come true, Sabine Harper must fight to save the only world she calls home.

Six months after Agent Harper stopped a deadly solar flare from destroying Earth, she’s sent back to the world of Ithical, where a mysterious civilization lives hidden under a dome. 

She’s tasked with finding the person responsible for stealing cerecite—a rare ore with near-magical capabilities. While cerecite can heal and provide energy, Sabine suspects the one stealing it may be using it for more sinister purposes.

After one of the world’s shield generators is destroyed, Sabine travels with Prince Morven to search for the perpetrator. They’re accompanied by the palace gardener, Cade MacDougall, and the princess, Vevina. When they locate the destroyed generator, they make a shocking discovery. The one who demolished the generator has plans to ruin the next three, which would not only devastate their civilization, but completely erase it.

But not all is as it seems. Sabine suspects her employer, Vortech, may not have the best intentions. Worse, the culprit may be closer than she realizes—close enough to kill if she gets too near to the truth. If Sabine and her companions can’t find the culprit in time, they could not only lose their world, but lose everyone they hold dear—including one another.

—

EXCERPT:

The metal cable burned my palms as I dangled from the two-hundred-foot drop. Long strands of dark hair stuck to my sweat-dampened face, but I refused to loosen my hold on the cord.

“Sabine.” Cade’s voice cut through the static of my headset. “Fifty feet to go.”

“Understood.” I slid down an inch, then another. The lights on my helmet didn’t illuminate the cave’s floor. I could’ve been descending into the abyss of Hades for all I knew. There was a reason thieves had picked this place to mine cerecite—it was nearly impossible to access, which made me wonder how they planned to get their stolen ore topside.

“Almost there,” Cade said. “What do you see?”

The Light After the Orange (The Tundra Stone Series, #1)

The Light After the Orange (The Tundra Stone Series, #1) By Beverley J. Hall
Publication date: July 18, 2022
Buy Link: Amazon
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Post-Apocalyptic

EVEN IN A DYING WORLD, IS SURVIVAL ENOUGH?
Summary:

After the Orange and the catastrophic devastation of Earth, magic began to seep in—but will it help Alex Chegasa survive?

Hidden and protected by magic, she grew up embracing her gifts. After witnessing the only people she can call family being murdered, eighteen-year-old Alex must choose between her head and her heart in her search for a place to belong. But, her hunt for a home means having to hide her magic.

All the while, in the shadows, eight-hundred-year-old Fae Billey NicNevin, suffering from amnesia, is rediscovering her magic.

Are their fates intertwined?

What if the fantastical stories Alex’s mother told her as a child were true?

ALL MYTHS ARE BASED ON TRUTH

Sales Copy: Eighteen-year-old Alex Chegasa, one of the first generation to be raised on post-apocalyptic Earth, was taught to embrace her magical gifts.

After the Orange, as the planet burned, magic trickled in. The bombs that had wiped out most life ripped open the barrier between worlds. Can the next generation, connected to the magic, be the solution to mankind’s problems or are they destined to repeat the mistakes of their ancestors?

Did the Orange, the very thing that ravaged the planet, also provide the solution? Or is magic more than a coincidence?

While Alex searches for somewhere to belong, in Massachusetts, she questions if survival is enough when she comes to understand that magic, used by the wrong people, could be more dangerous than the power of the generations before her.

Meanwhile, in a parallel story, we meet eight-hundred-year-old Fae, Billey NicNevin. With a past she doesn’t remember, she struggles to fit into Nuadh Caled (New Scotland) as it rebuilds itself. When she meets a woman whose soul calls to her, will she find her missing piece or tumble into insanity?

Are their destinies connected?

WHAT IF THE FANTASTICAL STORIES FROM ALEX’S CHILDHOOD WERE TRUE?

—

EXCERPT:

Loneliness ate me up from the inside, nibbling away at me and leaving an aching emptiness. I didn.t know what I missed or who I missed but knew, deep in the part of my soul that holds my intuition, there was a person-size hole nobody could fix, except for the one.

The person we all hunt for but so rarely find.
The person we were made to fit with.
The one imperfect, perfect, mismatch our soul longs for. *

Liquid Foundations (Hell in a Handbag, #3)

Liquid Foundations (Hell in a Handbag, #3) By Lisa Acerbo
Publication date: April 13, 2022
Buy Link: Amazon
Genres: New Adult, Post-Apocalyptic, Supernatural, Urban Fantasy, Young Adult, Zombies
Summary:

Even the most solid foundation can be shaken.

No place is safe anymore, and I’m on the run from something new.

The putrid stink of zombies has been replaced by sulfur, feces, and wet dog. The High Point Inn has been abandoned, the landscape plagued by the unimaginable, animal-hybrids. Wolves and bears rise from the grave or maybe they never died. Sure, the hordes of undead humans are diminishing, but whatever lies in wait is faster, smarter, and spurned by the devil himself.

With Caleb, Lilly, and Eric at my side, I search for friends and suFictiorvivors. But the new evil has arrived.

I can’t run quick enough.

The wolves are here, and they’re hungry, not to mention cunning and cruel. Endless rains force my group underground and into a cave system. Lost in the interminable, pitch-black subterranean tunnels, I struggle to keep my sanity and my life. There’s only one place in the world that makes sense anymore, and that’s where my friends are.

If I can survive the dark and the zombie wolves, Hopewell, Maine, here I come.

—

EXCERPT:

Her eyes found the offending window, and the Streaker who launched through it. What had once been a squat man in a flannel shirt and jeans had turned into a distended corpse in blood-crusted rags, its bloated stomach exposed for all. The Streaker wore a wrinkled face with the consistency of a peach left too long in the sun. One arm hung limp, fingers gnawed away.

Did something do that to the Streaker, or did it eat away at its own flesh?

Eau De Parfum: Eric’s Story Short (Hell in a Handbag)

Eau De Parfum: Eric’s Story Short (Hell in a Handbag) By Lisa Acerbo
Publication date: December 28, 2021
Buy Link: Amazon
Genres: Horror, New Adult, Post-Apocalyptic, 
Summary:

The smell of Streaker lingers in the air.

I must be dead!

I woke up naked and covered in blood. Teeth marks littered my arms, creating holes and revealing muscle. Someone or something attempted to gnaw off my elbow.

I’m alone! So, maybe, I’m worse than dead.

If friends and family abandoned me, I must have turned into a Streaker. On second thought, it’s an easy “no” to eating body parts.

The idea of brains for dinner disgusts me.

I only see one option ahead, and that’s to find my family and ask why they left me as dinner for the undead.

 

Pre-order the next books in the series:

—

EXCERPT:

His glance was quick and furtive. Nostrils flaring, Eric recoiled from the gore around him and the smell of death saturating the air. He held back a scream.

Where am I?

The irregular beat of his heart pounded in his ears like a truck accelerating under a bridge. Although the room was murky, the red ochre stains decorating the floor and walls like abstract paintings remained vivid.

What had happened here?

Eric sat naked, covered in blood, but alive. He lifted himself onto his knees. Everything hurt. He stared at the carnage that was his body and gagged.

Apocalipstick (Hell in a Handbag, #1)

Apocalipstick (Hell in a Handbag, #1) By Lisa Acerbo
Publication date: March 24, 2021
Buy Link: Amazon
Genres: New Adult, Post-Apocalyptic, Young Adult
Summary:

Life is bad after the apocalypse . . . the undead just made it worse.

“My dreams pre-pandemic included a high school graduation party before attending college and marrying an attractive future lawyer. Instead, I’m praying for a long, sharp knife and a big gun to survive the undead.” —Jenna

Jenna Martin lives in a world gone insane after a mysterious pandemic kills much of the population. Being alive after an apocalypse is bad, but it is made worse when the multitudes killed by the disease return ravenous for human flesh. Jenna, in serious trouble and pursued by undead, heads to the safest place available, a cemetery.

Ready to give up, she finds the strength to persevere for one more night and meets a group of survivors willing to take her in. The group caravans to Virginia, where they plan to inhabit an isolated inn called High Point, but the undead are always close behind. Packs of zombies, known as Streakers, attack, leaving Jenna and the other survivors battling for their lives and racing toward safety.

Once safely isolated at the inn, the group rebuilds society and Jenna begins a relationship with Caleb. Although he withstood the virus, he has not come out unscathed. He and some others now labeled the New Rave have changed into what many would call zombie kin—vampires. Jenna’s falls hard and fast for Caleb, which causes more problems that she ever expected in the fledgling society. But there are worse things than vampires and zombies searching for her, and they arrive at the inn’s door ready for destruction.

—

EXCERPT:

Glass shattered in the next room and footsteps crunched over the broken splinters. What had once been a tall, middle-aged man in a business suit, was now a bloated corpse in rags crusted over with blood and pus. The baked-by-the-sun Streaker wore a wrinkled face with the consistency of an old raisin. His right arm hung limply, dislodged from the socket, but both hands made continual grabbing motions.

Lacking any grace, the creature staggered to the bedroom door and stopped. It sniffed, searching out its next meal. Blood poured from Jenna’s lip, where Tundra had hit her. She wiped it away, then retrieving the piece of wood. Sensing the movement, the Streaker turned its undead eyes on her. Some of its skull had been torn away, exposing the rot. It lumbered and stumbled over the chair in its path, giving Jenna desperate seconds to ready herself. Arm raised, eyes dead and unblinking, it came, dancing with death. It reached out to grab her.

Book Blitz: Pandemonium (World Fallen, #1)

Pandemonium (World Fallen, #1) By Susanna Strom
Publication date: August 18, 2020
Buy Link: Amazon
Genres: Adult, Post-Apocalyptic, Romance, Suspense
Summary: 

The intersection of danger and desire
Kenzie Dunwitty is laser focused on finishing college and landing a job that will give her the security she craves. 

With a deadline looming, she disconnects to finish a paper. When she emerges, the world is sliding into chaos. Overnight, a simple flu virus has morphed into a lethal, worldwide pandemic. 

Kenzie seeks refuge at her prepper cousin’s compound and finds herself face to face with a deadly sexy stranger. 

Ripper Solis, ex-Army Ranger and current enforcer for an outlaw motorcycle club, protects the people he considers his own. 

He’s not a nice guy. Not a man that a woman turns to for support and comfort. Not the bad boy hero in the romance novels Kenzie’s escaped into for years. Or is he? 

As law and order break down, and the ever-present threat of the virus hangs over their heads, Ripper’s strength and resourcefulness offer an irresistible allure. Sexy and commanding, he’s everything she ever wanted. 

Their chemistry is combustible. 

Will love save the day, or will the perilous new world obliterate their future?
Pandemonium is the first novel in the exciting new World Fallen series. Maelstrom, book two of the World Fallen series, coming October 27.

—

CHAPTER ONE:

Kenzie

I slicked my wet hair back from my face and grabbed the towel that I’d slung over the shower curtain rod. A shadow fell across the plastic curtain. I glanced down at the three-inch gap between the bottom of the waterproof fabric and the floor. Bare feet—the toenails painted a bright apple green—shambled past the shower stall.

Jeez. At 3 a.m. on a Sunday morning, I’d figured I was alone in the big, communal bathroom. Whoever walked by was ignoring the unspoken rules of dorm life, not to mention common sense.

You didn’t sneak up on somebody in the middle of the night. You called out “Coming through” or “Hi” so you wouldn’t startle them or look like a creeper. And nobody in their right mind walked across a public bathroom with bare feet. Hadn’t they heard of foot fungus?